We finished planting soybeans just in time this year... To beat the wet weather on the way, we ran the tractor 44 straight hours between Dennis, Drew, Buff and Dwight. Finishing just after midnight Sunday morning, the storms moved in a few hours later.

We had finished planting corn on Wednesday. We will plan on spraying for weeds in a few weeks. Once the corn gets tall enough, we will begin sidedressing.

This year we are trying out some new technology from Dekalb called FieldScripts. We provide yield history, soil conditions, and other data to Carlson Seed, our local FieldScripts dealer. They analyze the data and suggest which corn hybrids are the best match for our field conditions. The data is then uploaded into our iPad, which is connected to the planter.

This photo shows our FieldScripts "prescription" on the right, and the actual planted population on the left. Our goal is to produce corn more efficiently by planting less seed in lower producing soil and more seed in higher producing soil.

During the growing season, Dekalb offers us another application that analyzes soil moisture content based on rainfall and the growth stage of the crop to help us determine how much fertilizer we need to apply, among other recommendations.

Drew attended a meeting today at Jim O'Hara's farm east of Shenandoah. Governor Terry Branstad was on hand along with Lieutenant Governor, Kim Reynolds and Iowa Ag Secretary, Bill Northey, speaking on the value of agriculture and cover crops to the state of Iowa in addition to hearing from the producers who successfully utilize cover crops on their farms, including Liljedahl Farms, Inc.Read the full article from KMA.